Legg named speaker pro-tem

Another Gulf Coast legislator takes the House Speaker Pro-tempore chair.

Rep. John Legg, R-Port Richey has been named Speaker Pro-tempore by Speaker-designate Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park.

Legg, 35, was instrumental in passing the education accountability legislation (Senate Bill 4) in the 2010 regular session having sponsored the House version. The bill requires more rigorous course work for students and revises the statewide student achievement testing program.

Legg's appointment assures that a legislator from the Gulf Coast continues to hold the key leadership position in the House. Rep. Ron Reagan, R-Bradenton, held the post last year.

With House members already set to be in Tallahassee Nov. 16 for its organization session, the House will also hold a one-day special session the same day.

Ten veto overrides are proposed to be part of the agenda. One, House Bill 545, affects much of the Gulf Coast, and is expected to remove a barrier to home sales considered a burden to sellers.

Vetoed by Gov. Charlie Crist in July, the bill repeals a provision requiring disclosures of residential property windstorm mitigation ratings to purchasers in wind-borne debris regions. Most of Pinellas, Sarasota, Lee and Collier counties, and parts of Manatee and Charlotte counties, are in the wind-borne debris region.